Rocket Ismail, a star at Notre Dame and in the Canadian Football League with the Toronto Argonauts, spent the summer waiting to join the Raiders, sitting home while contract negotiations dragged on. He has spent the autumn waiting to get a steady role with the offense. Ismail is a receiver, but he must compete for playing time with starters Tim Brown and Alexander Wright, and rookie James Jett. Ismail is a punt returner, but the Raiders already have Brown, the best in team history.

The Atlanta Falcons will get the right to pick Notre Dame star Raghib (Rocket) Ismail before the pro football draft begins Sunday, sources close to two NFL clubs said Friday. The teams are the Dallas Cowboys and New England Patriots, who, earlier Friday, worked the trade that took Ismail out of New England. Officials with all three clubs were unavailable for comment.

Raghib (Rocket) Ismail's introduction to the Canadian Football League was met by a chorus of boos. A crowd of 23,254 at Ottawa booed heartily when the public address announcer informed them that the Toronto Argonauts' rookie from Notre Dame was not dressed for the CFL opener because of a leg injury. However, Ismail got a vote of confidence from Argonaut owner Bruce McNall. "His attitude is great," McNall said at halftime.

Get the football into the hands of Raghib Ismail and good things usually follow. From his early playing days in Newark, N.J., and Wilkes-Barre, Pa., to Notre Dame and then to the Canadian Football League, that was the rule to live by for the team that had the player nicknamed "Rocket." So when Ismail joined the Raiders before the start of last season, after two seasons in the Canadian Football League, it was understandable that fans expected instant results.

The jetliner, trimmed in silver and black, taxied from the runway Wednesday and came to a halt. A formation of 10 limousines drove out to meet it. As the doors of the aircraft opened, the photographers started clicking away. With comedian John Candy serving as a one-man welcoming committee, they emerged: actress Mariel Hemingway, actor Jim Belushi, Wayne Gretzky, Bruce McNall and 25 others, heavyweights from the sports, entertainment and business fields.

The fastest pass receivers in football today aren't all on NFL teams. Two of the fastest--and most gifted--are elsewhere on the continent. In alphabetical order: --Curtis Conway, known to his associates as the Comet, is a USC junior who will face Notre Dame at the Coliseum Saturday as the season winds down for two of the nation's most prominent intersectional rivals. --Raghib Ismail, known as the Rocket, has spent the last two seasons in the Canadian Football League with the Toronto Argonauts.

Whenever it seems that receiver/return man Rocket Ismail is about to launch his NFL career, the countdown is put on hold. His first flight has been scrubbed more times than the floor of an operating room. When Ismail was streaking down the field for Notre Dame as one of college's football's premier players, there was speculation that he would hit the NFL with a bang worthy of his nickname as the No. 1 pick in the draft.

Notre Dame launched a rocket that destroyed Michigan on Saturday. Raghib Ismail, nicknamed Rocket because of his speed, returned two kickoffs for touchdowns in the second half as the top-ranked Fighting Irish beat No. 2 Michigan, 24-19, and took a major step toward defending their national championship.

Twenty-one years after his birth, Todd Marinovich and the Raiders were formally united Sunday, fulfilling the blueprint dreams of a boy and his conditioning coach/father. Some could argue the Raiders reached a bit for Marinovich with the 24th pick of the first round, but Marinovich would rather consider it destiny, given his lineage and a recent propensity for trouble.

Raghib (Rocket) Ismail, his days in the Canadian Football League seemingly numbered, has received permission from owner Bruce McNall of the Toronto Argonauts to talk to the Raiders. Bob Woolf, Ismail's attorney, said he hopes to begin "exploratory" talks soon with the Raiders, who made Ismail a fourth-round draft choice in 1991. "We want to explore what (Ismail's) possibilities would be in the United States," Woolf said.